Shelters continue to open as rescues still taking place

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There are more than 32,000 people in shelters across Texas as Harvey continues drenching the state's Gulf Coast.

Gov. Greg Abbott said Texas also has an additional 30,000 beds "available as needed" for those who fled or are still fleeing floodwaters associated with the storm.

At a news conference in Austin, Abbott said there are still about 107,000 power outages statewide, down from nearly 140,000 over the weekend. Harvey roared ashore as a hurricane Friday, then triggered deadly floods as a tropical storm.

Abbott refused to speculate on the final costs of the storm in terms of property damage. But he suggested that the scope of destruction far exceeded that of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 or 2012's Superstorm Sandy, meaning the financial impact will likely be far greater than both.

A second major shelter has opened in Houston following Harvey’s landfall and it’s welcoming the first of up to 10,000 evacuees.

At least 10 buses pulled up to the NRG Center on the south side of the city just before midnight Tuesday. Those in wheelchairs entered first, followed by the first of what officials said could be up to 2,000 people by sunrise Wednesday at the conference hall adjacent to the decommissioned Astrodome and the city’s NFL stadium.

The George R. Brown Convention Center downtown has filled to nearly double its originally announced capacity of 5,000 in the five days since the storm first made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane.

President promises to help Texas rebuild; ICE ceases enforcement operations in certain areas

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said it's not conducting immigration enforcement operations in storm-affected areas.

The agency's statement Wednesday came in response to reports a day earlier that impersonators were knocking on doors in Houston and identifying themselves as Homeland Security Investigations agents. ICE said the impersonators are reportedly telling people to evacuate, presumably with the intention of robbing their empty homes.

ICE is encouraging people to demand to see badges and credentials. The agency has sent employees to help with search-and-rescue operations.

The latest statement is more explicit than one issued earlier this week and perhaps more reassuring to people in the country illegally. On Monday, ICE said it won't conduct "routine, non-criminal immigration enforcement operations" at evacuation sites and shelters, but that the law will not be suspended.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said it has assigned about 150 employees from around the country to help with disaster relief efforts in Houston.

The agency said Wednesday that 139 agents and officers from Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, El Paso, Houston, Washington, New York, San Diego and Tampa are on scene. They are on 25-member teams that answer to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

ICE also has another dozen employees on another team that assists FEMA. It said it is prepared to send more employees if needed.

The agency said it is not doing immigration enforcement operations in storm-affected areas.

President Donald Trump is promising billions to help Texas rebuild from Harvey, but his Republican allies in the House are looking at cutting almost $1 billion from disaster accounts to help finance the president's border wall.

The pending reduction to the Federal Emergency Management Agency's disaster relief account is part of a spending bill that the House is scheduled to consider next week when Congress returns from its August recess. The $876 million cut, part of the 1,305-page measure's homeland security section, pays for roughly half the cost of Trump's down payment on a U.S.-Mexico border wall.

It seems sure that GOP leaders will move to reverse the disaster aid cut next week. The optics are politically bad and there's only $2.3 billion remaining in disaster coffers.

Death toll rises above 30

The Houston Chronicle reported that more than 30 people - including a veteran Houston police officer - have died or are feared dead in the Houston area and beyond in flooding triggered by Tropical Storm Harvey, according to local officials.

Medical examiners are in the process of confirming which deaths are related to the historic flooding. And authorities are still searching for some of those believed to have perished during the flooding that has overwhelmed the region.

Local officials expect the grim discoveries of additional bodies once the floodwaters retreat and the streams, rivers and bayous go back into their banks.

Harvey aftermath destroys thousands of homes

The Texas Department of Public Safety said more than 48,700 homes have been affected by flooding and other damage brought by Harvey since it first came ashore Friday.

A report released Wednesday shows more than 1,000 homes have been destroyed while about another 17,000 have sustained major damage. Approximately 32,000 have damage described by state authorities as minor.

In Harris County, one of the state's largest and home to Houston, about 43,700 homes have been damaged, with some 11,600 receiving major damage and another 770 destroyed.

Harvey has also damaged nearly 700 businesses in the state.

DPS said its report will be updated each day so the number of damaged structures is expected to rise, particularly with expanding floodwaters in Southeast Texas as Harvey moves into Louisiana.

Harvey downgraded to tropical depression

The National Hurricane Center has downgraded Harvey to a tropical depression, but warns of continuing flooding in parts of Southeast Texas and southwest Louisiana.

In its Wednesday evening update, the hurricane center said Harvey is located about 10 miles (16.09 kilometers) southwest of Alexandria, Louisiana, and has maximum sustained winds of 35 mph (56.32 kph).

William Luther, San Antonio Express-News

The center said the threat of heavy rains has ended for the Houston and Galveston areas, but "life-threatening" flooding will continue in and around Houston, Beaumont, Port Arthur and southwest Louisiana.

Harvey is expected to produce an additional 4 to 8 inches of rainfall along the Texas-Louisiana line.

Harvey threat to La. appears to diminish

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said the threat of flooding in the state's southwest appears to be diminishing as Harvey pulls away from the region.

He said Louisiana remains committed to assisting officials in Texas, where another overnight round of torrential rains stranded many residents in flooded homes.

Edwards said 330 people were staying at a Lake Charles shelter as of Wednesday afternoon. He expects that number to grow as more people are rescued from floodwaters in eastern Texas, just across the state line.

He said a shelter in Shreveport is ready to accommodate up to 3,400 flood victims from Texas if officials accept the state's offer to shelter them in northern Louisiana.

Edwards planned to travel to southwest Louisiana on Wednesday afternoon to meet with local officials there.

Forecasters are looking at a weather system off the Mexican coast just south of Texas that they say has a one-in-five chance of developing into something tropical in the next five days.

Dennis Feltgen, a meteorologist at the National Hurricane Center, said if it does develop, it would do so slowly and that it shouldn't be seen as an imminent threat. He says it wouldn't necessarily hit Harvey-flooded areas, but there's a chance.

The system is so far out that forecasters can't say how much more rain it would bring.

National Guard sends thousands to help

About 10,000 additional National Guard troops from around the U.S. are being deployed to Texas as Harvey continues dumping rain on the region.

Gov. Greg Abbott said Wednesday that "the worst is not over" for southeastern Texas as widespread flooding continues.

The Republican said the arrival of additional Guard members from around the country will bring the total number of deployments to about 24,000. Abbott earlier this week activated all available members of the Texas National Guard.

Abbott said the Guard has conducted more than 8,500 rescues and more than 1,400 shelter-in-place and welfare checks.

Nearby Chemical Plant causes concern

The CEO of a chemical plant northeast of Houston said it could explode and cause an intense fire.

Arkema president and chief executive Rich Rowe said Wednesday that the floodwaters from Harvey and the lack of power are keeping the company from preventing an explosion. The company says the chemical compounds must be stored at low temperatures. He said there is 6 feet of water at the plant and they have lost critical refrigeration of the materials.